The Spoils of Allsveil: Dark Heart Heroes #2 Read online

  Paul had been with me in battles for some fifteen years and I’d never seen him this nervous.

  Bridgette glared at me. “You’re mad. You’re really forcing him to do this.”

  “He wants you.” I scowled back at her. “And you want him. There’s no forcing involved.”

  A bloom of color spread across her cheeks and down her neck. Oh yes, she wanted him. My cock twitched with ferocity as if it had been given a second chance at life. Oh, so help me, what I’d thought was revenge became something more deviant. Paul swallowed, fumbled with his belt, and glanced at me. I nodded with a solemn acceptance. By heaven, I felt sorry for the man. Bridgette was a tough woman to please. If he had any—issues, she was the kind of cruel that could make a man swear off sex for good.

  “Oh for all that’s holy, Paul.” Bridgette grabbed the man’s belt and helped him unwind the leather.

  I snorted. “Yes, ridicule helps a man’s prick harden, Brie.”

  My commander grabbed my wife and pressed his lips against hers. The shock of his assertiveness, and watching another man possess what was mine, sent a ripple through me. I stood, unable to name what was happening. My ribs heaved. My heart labored to beat out of my chest. My ill-behaved cock strove to burst apart wanting other men to experience what belonged to me. To know what I owned.

  At the same time my heart clenched and I had to fight the urge to rip Paul off her. Anger. Arousal. Confusion. Excitement. A thousand ropes pulled me in different directions. One moment a voice in my head screamed in pleasure, the next, bile started to rise. I closed my eyes and repeated to myself that I’d asked for this. Jealousy, love, pain, a lifetime of resentment, all forced their way through a hole that could only fit one emotion at a time. Why had I fucked those other women when it was Brie I always thought about? Had they given me the acceptance I’d sought?

  No. I could bed a thousand women, but the one that mattered rejected me. Why? Why did it matter? Because I loved her. Her opinion counted. A tiny voice crept up and made its way to my mind, slow but sure. If I loved her, then her happiness was paramount. If she wanted Paul, then who was I to prevent her from having him? Call it penance for my unfaithful ways.

  I opened my eyes. Paul crushed her to him. Brie’s arms and legs wrapped around him as he stood, pumping into her. My admiration for his strength increased. Brie was not a small woman. Holding her up took muscle. The two parted for air and Paul brought them both to the mattress. Brie screamed in delight and gave him room to climb all the way on top of her. The man was savage, brutal. He pounded into her like a horny stallion unwilling to wait. Angry at his rough treatment, I stepped forward to stop him from hurting her.

  Brie cried out in an ecstasy I’d not heard in many years. “Yes! Harder!”

  I stopped in my tracks. He wasn’t hurting her. She wanted it that way. The bliss on her face, her arched back. Paul was giving her something I’d not even thought to give—uncontrolled passion. Oh, I’d given it to other women. But Brie was my flower. My delicate figurine. My lady. I’d made love to her slow and meaningful. But that was not what she wanted.

  My knees lost their stiffness. Every muscle of my cock pressed to reach the love of my life. Unable to take anymore, I freed my cock and stroked with a vigorous hand. My wife was a whore and I loved her for it. She started screaming, but it was my throat that ached. How I wanted her pleas. Grabbing the chair by my side, I made haste to my release. Unabashed I moaned and raised my head to see Brie looking at me. The wanton desperation in her eyes had me undone. My eyes remained locked to the only woman who could make me share her if that was what it took to have her.

  Those beautiful blue eyes begged me to come closer. I grabbed the chair harder, and my cum exploded across the room. I squeezed my cock in semblance of Brie’s inner walls meeting my release with her own. Relief and satisfaction drained me of all my strength but to stand.

  My woman continued to moan. Paul wheezed, but never let up his pace. The two of them in their mindless bliss. I thought I’d feel resentful, but watching them with a satiated body only clarified my resolve. Brie needed us both. I could tell Paul was near his end, but my greedy wife needed more of a pole-thrashing. She would not be satisfied.

  Watching them raised the tension in my groin. My affection-starved cock wanted a true round, not a self-induced rub. Making sure I was stable to walk, I moved forward. Brie saw me and pushed Paul up. He seemed surprised, but sat back while she angled herself to take him in her wonderfully screaming mouth. With her ass up and tilted for me, I guided myself in. Old habits die hard, and I was slow to penetrate her at first, but knowing my little whore wanted it hard and fast, I obliged.

  Gallant as a soldier, Paul gritted his teeth, straining to hold on. Brie had a wicked tongue, in conversation and in bed—all the better to make a man cum. I could tell Paul would soon fail his quest to hold back. I chuckled low and pounded Brie harder, forcing her forward in rough bursts so she would feel Paul’s full length down her throat. Hands in her hair, Paul smirked at me and then his expression contorted into undeniable pleasure. I eased up for his sake but he didn’t seem to need it. His hips rocked in tiny jerks and Brie screamed like never before. This was sending me over the edge a second time.

  “That’s right, suck down everything he’s got to give,” I said, pumping harder.

  I felt a shift and somehow my cock became wetter and dove deeper. It was as if Brie had opened more of herself for me to drive into. “Yes! Give it to me,” I screamed. I wanted everything she had to give. All of her. My mind and body hummed in tune. Pumping like a savage, I held nothing back. All those nights’ frustrations, thinking she wanted kind and gentle, poured out. I transformed into a beast. She would have finger-sized bruises on her hips and I didn’t care.

  “Aiden, more!” A demand from my wife that I obliged.

  Tilting her just right, I found the end of her “bottomless” pit. Rutting into my wife, thinking every nasty little thing I wanted to do to her, fueled me to pound harder, drive faster, my tip reaching her end.

  Paul stumbled back, then the walls around my cock started to convulse and I could take no more. Brie cried out with such force my release swept me to heaven. I was flying and I never wanted to come down. Sweet pleasure overtook my mind, my body. But the unexpected wash of joy over my heart went soul deep. Wide open, I collapsed onto my lover. “I love you so much, Brie.”

  I felt her go unnaturally still. Terror bounced from my heart to the pit of my stomach. I sprang off her and rolled her over. Tears cascaded down her flushed cheeks and I cursed myself.

  “I’ve hurt you.” The rise of pain and anger whiplashed around my gut.

  “No!”

  “Do you need the barber surgeon?”

  “No.” She caressed my face.

  “I’m sorry, I’ll never be such a brute ever again.”

  Brie smiled and gurgled a laugh. “Idiot, I crave uncivilized.”

  The rising boil in my heart faded and bloomed relief. “We need to compromise. I can’t be that way every time.” I touched her nose with mine and skimmed its length. I’d missed giving her butterfly kisses like I’d done before we wed.

  “Then say it again.”

  I pulled back and scrunched my eyebrows.

  Brie whispered, “Say you love me.”

  My heart ached to see the glint of pain her eyes. Aighta was right, I’d not said those words enough. “I love you, Brie. I love you with every beat of my heart. I love you when I breathe. I’ll love you still even when the time comes that I don’t breathe. I love you and I’m so sorry—”

  Brie covered my lips with two fingers. “Don’t ruin this moment with the past.”

  I kissed her fingers. “What, no need to apologize?”

  “Oh, you can apologize to me every day for the rest of our lives, just not right now.”

  Her skin, her playful tone, her caress all worked as a balm. Amazing what fantastic sex can do to heal a soul. I lifted my wife up and settled her flush with my
chest, the both of us in the sitting position. As she straddled up top of me, I looked into those bright blue eyes and stroked her face.

  “If uncivilized is what you like, perhaps you’d like another go with us both once more.” The thought had my cock rising. I looked around for my man.

  Paul leaned against the wall, mostly dressed, struggling to put on his boot. He looked grateful, ashamed, conflicted, satiated, and worried. He needed more time to understand what just happened. Paul was a smart man. He would figure out that he’d given me what I needed—which was watching him take my wife. Our eyes met as he sidestepped over to the door. I nodded and mouthed “thank you.” His shoulders sagged in relief and without a word, he slipped out the room.

  “I don’t need Paul,” Brie whispered in my ear.

  A wise woman once told me that I should stop speaking while I was ahead, and I took her advice in this instance. My cock said what I wanted to say instead and I eased her down my hard length. Brie groaned and wrapped herself around me like a warm cloth. This time I moved gentle and slow. I rocked her as she told me all her dirty sexual desires. She spoke with that husky voice and made me come a third time that night.

  13 - Alexia

  Every time I thought about Darrin walking the corridors naked, it made me giggle. That man was diabolical walking the corridors clothed. Hours after he left, I started folding his clothes in an attempt to finally do as Mother wished and make peace with my father’s death. I would not forgive so easily as changing my mind, but I could consciously make the decision not to kill my husband. My hard-won clothes folded neatly, I put his baldric over my shoulder and took the peace offering down the dark halls to his room.

  “Is the prince in?” I asked his door guard.

  “He is not, Princess Tyilasuir. Haven’t seen him since he left after your summons this afternoon.”

  That was odd. “Does the prince have a habit of walking the grounds naked?”

  The guard gave me a queer look. “No.” He looked at my shoulder and the sword held within its scabbard. “Neither does he go unarmed.”

  “Thank you.” I turned and walked away before I could be questioned. A sense of dread washed over me. When I was out of the guard’s sight, I ran up to Nanna’s tower. The door guards stopped me at Nanna’s door.

  “No unauthorized visits,” said the door guard to my left.

  Thinking fast I disguised my panic as disdain. “Do you know whose clothes I’m holding right now?” I flashed the lapel of the coat with the medals of high rank.

  The guard looked, but didn’t seem impressed. “You’ve gone down in the world, milady, from failed assassin to laundress.”

  Guard Number Two chuckled and I steamed at the insult. It reminded me of my mother tittering away while I left for my wedding night. But one thing about my mother—she wouldn’t have this much trouble getting past the guards. Taking a breath and putting on a sweet face, I tried one of Mother’s tactics. “Would you like to find out how I got him to take his clothes off in front of me?”

  The guard sneered. “Most likely you stole his clothes after one of your attempts worked.”

  From the other side, Guard Number Two grabbed my arm. “What have you done with Prince Goththor?”

  I shrieked. A hand clamped over my mouth. I struggled. My cries were muffled by an enormous hand. An arm wrapped around my chest, crushing Darrin’s clothes to my bosom. Lips pressed to my ear. “Shhhh, princess.” The first guard loomed over me with as much hatred as I’d seen from my own mirror. “You’ve hurt him. I’ve seen what you’ve done to my prince. He was bold once. Happy. Always kept us out of trouble. Never let us down and always made us laugh. Because of you he’s looking over his shoulder. Doesn’t sleep well. Doesn’t trust anyone. That has everything to do with you.”

  “What have you done? Where is Prince Darrin?”

  I wiggled against the arms that held me.

  “You know what, I don’t think he’d mind if he never saw you again.” The guard in front of me put a hand to his short sword.

  The guard holding me watched with alarm. “What are you doing?”

  “We aren’t the only ones that hate her.”

  They were going to kill me, so I did the only dignified thing a lady could do…and bit down on flesh. The guard let out a yelp and removed his hand, then shook the brains right out of my skull. “Stupid girl.” I heard the slap before the sting registered on the left side of my jaw.

  Nanna’s door opened and Samalia called out, “You two, keep your inquisitions quiet.”

  “Nanna!” I choked out.

  Guard Number One, about to kill me, turned.

  Nanna wore an old, moth-eaten nightgown with torn fringes. Her face looked more worn than her frayed sleeping attire. But that face was what saved me. Eyes bright, mouth tight, and countless wrinkles carved experience into every patch of skin.

  “Boy, you let her go.” Nanna squinted her eyes.

  Guard Number One straightened to attention. “You know the rules, ma’am, no visitors without authorization.”

  Nanna raised that hooked crone nose of hers and squinted at him. She was a good three feet smaller than he, but Guard Number One shuffled and lowered his head.

  A spotted, clawed hand lifted and Nanna pointed at me. “Let her go.”

  He released me immediately.

  “Your authorization is enough.” She eyed the guards. I’d seen that hawk gaze before, right before I had my ear pinched between her vise-like fingers so hard that breathing the wrong way hurt. She pulled me away from Guards One and Two. “What do you want, Alexia?”

  I shoved the clothes into her hands, partly to make her arms full. “Tell me, where does a naked prince go?”

  Nanna frowned and looked at the clothes. I’d handed her everything except his sword. “And unarmed.” Nanna grumbled.

  I stared at Mother’s maid, my old nanny, willing her to know about the Black Knight’s message.

  “Where did you get these?” she asked.

  “They were on him before our chess game.”

  Her fierce gaze flicked to mine. She had been one of the confidants who knew about the hollowed-out pieces. Again I willed her to know what I knew.

  “‘Four King Fieron,’” I said, repeating the message.

  Those shrewd eyes grew colder. Her lips tightened. “It’s code. Four men remain. Four Black Knights. An eye for an eye.”

  “Will make the world blind,” I finished.

  Nanna’s mouth curved up and pride shone through her face. “They’ll have him in the catacombs.”

  “Then I must go.” I grabbed for his attire.

  Nanna pulled his clothes aside, not letting me have them. “You don’t know where they are.”

  My eyes grew wide. “Nanna…”

  “No. I swore to your mother to protect you. I intend on doing so.”

  “I have to get him back!”

  “Old woman,” Guard One said, “Who and what, exactly, are you talking about?”

  Nanna’s jowls shook even as her jaw tightened. “You want your prince to live, come with me.” She plowed through all of us and hurried down the corridor and stairs. I followed suit and the two guards behind us went with us.

  “I have a feeling we’re going to need help,” Guard Number Two said.

  “No.” Nanna growled. “They’re expecting an army. They aren’t expecting a disgruntled princess.” Nanna walked with purpose down the stairs. “Just two guards escorting the princess and her maid to Prince Goththor.” Nanna looked back at One and Two. “Understand?”

  One eyed Nanna and then gave a meaningful glance over at Two. They both nodded in agreement. Nanna turned into an alcove and pointed at one of the stones on the floor. “Lift that.”

  One stepped forward while Two stayed behind us.

  “It might take both…” Nanna started to say, but One knelt, pulled out a knife, and started picking away at the loose dirt. As large as his fingers were, they managed to grip the edges of the cobbl
estone and lift the brick up.

  “Very impressive, young man,” Nanna said in her unimpressed voice—but then again, Nanna had never sounded impressed with anyone. “We may have a chance.” She looked at me and pointed at the very small, very dark hole in the ground. “Down.” I crept over and looked inside.

  Nanna stuck her hawk nose into the hole. “Goddamn. They took the ladder away.”

  Lifting her head up from the dank cave, she eyed One and Two. “It’s ten feet down at least.”

  “I can jump that far,” I said. Maybe.

  Nanna sniffed. “You were trained to tuck and roll. If you do, you’ll find a maze of pikes in your body.”

  I should have known. The Black Knights were a group of loyal men. Cunning like thieves with as much of a conscience, they’d find my lifeless body and mourn, only because I was the king’s daughter.

  “His clothes.” I scattered my husband’s gorgeous battle gear and tied coattails to pant legs and pant legs to shirt sleeves. The whole of his attire created a rope that was just about fifteen feet long. I held the end and threw the rest down into the darkness. “We can hop down the rest the way.”

  I handed the coat to Number Two. “Hold that.”

  “Oh, no,” said Two, “I’m not being left behind. Besides, I can’t hold him on my own.” Two jerked a thumb to One.

  “I go first.” One grabbed my shoulder. Two dropped the coat in a temper and the makeshift shirt-rope started sliding down into the hole. I lunged for the escaping cloth ladder, and landed on the ground with the butt of Prince Goththor’s sword digging into my side. I still caught my “rope” by the rim of its neck. Fuming, I pulled up our only chance to sneak down, sat up, and held the coat tight with both hands. My left hip was going to have a bruise. I must have looked odd on the ground, for Nanna gave me a very indignant face and the other two were beside themselves, shifting from foot to foot.